Project description
Populism’s popularity in post-socialist Europe
Twenty years ago, populist parties were a marginal force in Europe. Nowadays, one in four Europeans vote for a populist party. Far-right populist and nationalist parties – stoking anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiment among voters – have more than tripled their support across Europe. The NIWGE project will focus on East Germany and Hungary to understand why voters are embracing populist ideologies. This German-Hungarian comparative project will contribute to literature seeking to reorient research towards a global labour history. According to the project, East Germany – nearly 30 years after reunification – is a model case for understanding why populism is so fertile. The findings will generate a wider dialogue on labour and democracy in Europe, especially in post-socialist countries.
Objective
The research seeks to interrogate the question as to what extent the newly formed, skilled industrial “elite” workforce mainly driven by global capital in East Germany and Hungary, is attracted by right-wing, populist ideologies and political forces, and what factors can be identified that account for the decreasing appeal of the “old left” in this stratum of the workers.
The German-Hungarian comparative project is expected to: (a) contribute to an emergent literature, which seeks to reorient research towards a global labour history (Linden 2008), namely new directions in political sociology, labor sociology, social anthropology and gender studies; (b) facilitate new strategies of labour revitalization, which are considered to be vital for a deeper understanding of the mobilizing power of right-wing populism. I contend that the transfer of the “best practices” of the German model of co-determination into semi-peripheral countries such as Hungary can be an important means in this process; (c) generate a wider social dialogue on labour and democracy, which is targeted primarily at a non-academic public.
There has been a widespread criticism of the lack of working-class agency as an analytical focus in recent literature. I use an agent-centred, working-class power (WCP) approach on the basis of Wright’s analysis (2000). Further, I contend that the specific Eastern European historical legacies should receive more emphasis in the research and that a complex, interdisciplinary study of these legacies transmitted through family histories and collective memory and the everyday life-history experience of work and work-based communities is needed to account for the increasing appeal of right-wing populism in postsocialist countries. East Germany is an exemplary case here because albeit with the unification it became part of a Western country, the state socialist past still distinguishes the region politically and economically from the former West Germany (Kopstein 2001).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology gender studies
- social sciences political sciences government systems democracy
- social sciences sociology anthropology social anthropology
- social sciences economics and business business and management employment
- social sciences sociology ideologies
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
01069 Dresden
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.